


We Were Lovers in a Past Life

by poppicock



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Bee Miraculous, F/F, Fox Miraculous, Gay., gay?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 17:58:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10392708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poppicock/pseuds/poppicock
Summary: Alya's kryptonite? Blondes and stripes.





	

Alya knew Chloe was a lesbian from the moment she saw her.

The girl wouldn’t have told you it was based on a feeling. Alya Cesaire didn’t subscribe to the idea of ‘gaydar’ or stereotypes. She was a reporter, after all.

No. Chloe Bourgeois was a lesbian. Water is wet. Winged eyeliner takes practice and patience.

Now, they might’ve been friends if not for two significant reasons.

The first reason is obvious: Chloe was not kind. She was not kind to Alya, or anyone else for that matter. She could be caught being amicable with the one boy she was trying to convince the world she was madly in love with, but that was rare.

The second reason was a bit more specific. Alya realized Chloe was a lesbian, and immediately smirked. Chloe caught the knowing smile. The ‘I know your secret’ smile. The blonde came across Alya’s daring eyes, her wicked grin, and knew that she knew. Suddenly, they would _never_ be friends, and Chloe loathed the girl on sight.

Perhaps other people would’ve realized that Alya was gay as well, but they were kids. It didn’t occur to them that a flannel button up and high-tops were incredibly telling. They were young and didn’t believe in stereotyping (hence the vehement denial of ‘gaydar’), but they were still young. They assumed Alya Cesaire was heterosexual, and she was in no rush to correct them. Why was there a burden on her to come out of the closet?

Still, Chloe knew Alya, too. For some reason, they just knew the other, like they were a pair in a past life.

This understanding of each other, this understanding of aforementioned understanding, was not enough to form a friendship, but rather, an odd comradery.

 _Oh well,_ she thought, glancing over to the blonde as she changed in the locker room, _you will find another blonde. In time._

 

XXX

 

“So,” Queen Bee did not disguise the way her eyes scanned over the woman’s orange suit, “You’re my partner?”

Volpina’s first instinct was to scream. _Blonde?_ Check. _Stripes?_ Check. _Can probably wreck me?_ Check. Her ultimate decision was crushing silence.

Sure, she had felt crushes in the past. Alya had fallen in and out of love of several girls (and a few boys, sexuality is fluid, please and thank you) before, but never this instantaneously. It had taken time with everyone else, it had taken friendship and text messages and everything else that went into love. This was so quick, she had to wonder if she had always loved this girl, though they had never met before today.

The blonde, grinned bouncing with excitement, “Okay, silent type, Volpina? That’s fine.”

The heroine talked, and talked, and talked. The redhead only caught some snippets, she was mesmerized and a fool in love, after all. Queen Bee was as animated as she was beautiful.

The blonde annoyingly snapped her fingers in front of the nerd’s face. “Yo, Foxy. Did you hear anything I said?”

Blinked, the girl tilted her head back, “No,” She admitted, staring at the sky and wondering why she was being so honest. Hero of deception, her kwami had said, hero of _lies_. So much for that. Something told Alya that she would never want to lie to her partner. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Ladybug and Chatnerd want us to focus on finding Hawkmoth,” Bee rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed. Volpina would learn that her partner was action-oriented, and just as excited as her to be a superhero. “And get cats out of trees. Small crime. It’s going to suck.”

“We have to start somewhere, don’t we?” Alya smirked.

Queen Bee suddenly appeared flushed. She looked to the left, then to the right, and nodded. “I’m always for a grassroots campaign.” Her voice was hesitant, she glanced back to the fox. “I prefer flowerbeds, however.”

 

XXX

 

“I think Ladybug knows our identities.” Bee sat down next to Volpina, who sat under the branches of a low-hanging tree. “I don’t want to make it a thing, but she’s always…distant from me. More cutting than she is with you. She adores you.”

Volpina was glancing away, trying to comprehend the revelation. She had been wondering why Ladybug had always acted oddly around ‘Alya Cesaire, journalist.’ What if it had been the plan all along, to make her a superhero?

When she turned back, Queen Bee was typing into a cellphone. A fancy smartphone with a black and yellow case.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

“Updating my twitter.”

Volpina blinked, and scrunched her nose.

“…How many followers does Queen Bee have?”

“Oh.” The girl turned back to her phone. “My personal twitter has more, Buginetwork has—”

“ _You’re_ Buginetwork?” The fox made an appalled noise. It had not occurred to her to ever find out the identity of one of Ladyblog’s top competitors. The anonymous blogger mostly posted nicely edited pictures of patrol, and the occasional theory about who Ladybug was. Buginetwork had beat Ladyblog on a few akuma reports, however, like Kung Food and Dark Cupid.

She had to convince herself that it wasn’t a rivalry, but god damn, her _rival_ was sitting right next to her, updating her accounts like it was nothing.

Queen Bee flipped her ponytail over her shoulder, and batted her eyelashes and teased, “Ah, are you a fan, foxy? You can’t tell anyone, it is an anonymous account…Oh! Queen Bee has three-thousand. I would update more, but if someone saw me during school on the account, it’d be too risky.”

Alya swallowed, “Well, if you wanted, Ladybug knows the girl who runs the Ladyblog. You could do an interview and plug your account?”

The blonde leaned back with a heavy sigh, “I’d rather pull my teeth than give _Cesaire_ an interview, but my blog isn’t really for interviews, you know?”

“It really isn’t.”

_But my blog is, and it will crush your blog with this interview._

“I might as well give her the first-exclusive interview,” The blonde mused, and gave her partner a pointed look, “She is kind of cute.”

Volpina smirked, “She is?”

“Oh, totally. Annoying as hell, I want to destroy her, but…cute.” Queen Bee turned to the fox, “Do you want to join me? We could do the interview together.”

“I’m good. I prefer staying out of the spotlight, believe it or not.”

 

XXX

 

Adrien groaned, and leaned against Marinette. Anyone else would’ve been toppled easily by his forceful collapse of defeat, but Marinette was unlike most people. She stepped aside, watched him flop until the grass beneath him, and resumed texting Rose.

The boy screamed into the dirt, and she rolled her eyes, “What’s wrong, now?”

He rolled onto his back, and pouted as she ignored him. “Were we _that_ dumb?”

Her eyes flicked up to Alya and Chloe, who were exchanging a terse conversation about _something._ Typically, the two could find some reason to talk to each other. Mostly arguing, sometimes superheroes, rarely schoolwork, but never the issue at hand. Never the tension, never the held looks, never the knowing smiles, just anything but.

“Give it time, kitty.” She murmured, sitting down next to him. “We were idiots, too.”

 

XXX

 

“Got a date, do you?”

Chloe’s sneer did not bother Alya, as she applied a soft-colored lipstick to her pout. It was a nice day, and it would not be ruined by anyone.

“I do.” She admitted, closing the cap, “I was thinking of asking for her number.”

She turned, leaned against the bathroom counter, and smiled wide, shark-like teeth to a suddenly-petrified Chloe Bourgeois.

“Of course, if things don’t work out, I could introduce you?”

The girl stuck up her nose, “No, no, I _much_ prefer Volpina to Queen Bee.”

“I COULD GET HER NUMBER!”

 _Why would you say that, Alya?_ Her mind was screaming, between her breasts (where she rested), Trixx was squirming. Normally, she was so level-headed.

Chloe raised her eyebrow at Alya. “Excuse me?”

The journalist stood frozen, and realized just what kind of game she was playing. “I could ask Queen Bee for it, for you, if you…um, want. I know we talk and allude to us being the only gay girls here but I’ve _never_ heard you express interest in anyone besides Sabrina, so…” Her hands made an awkward gesture, “I mean, I could ask Queen Bee for you.”

The blonde looked at Alya, and nodded slowly. “Sure, Alya. That’d be amazing.”

There was suddenly a softness, that she spotted across Chloe’s face. The room felt scorching, suddenly.

_Shake it off, Cesaire._

When they exited, they both ran smack in the middle of Marinette, around them, chaos reigned over head. Was it slime? It was slime. Most likely caused by an akuma, or a failed science experiment, though the latter possibility was highly unlikely.

“T-There’s an akuma!” Marinette told them, as though it weren’t obvious, “I’m going to hide here.”

Alya nodded, and whipped out her phone, “You know me, I’m going to get the story. Stay safe, girl.”

“You too!” Her best friend called back, running into the bathroom and slamming a stall closed. Alya grabbed Chloe’s wrist, “Wait,” She said to the blonde. “It’s not safe. You should hide with Marinette.”

Chloe glared at her in response, wrangled her wrist away, and clipped back, “I’ll be _fine,_ Cesaire, try not to get killed.”

Then, she ran off in the other direction.

 

XXX

 

“This is the best idea ever.” Trixx said, through several bites of blackberries, “Two vixens in two days? Alya, you’ve really outdone yourself.”

The girl in question, pursed her lips as she debated between button-ups. “It’s not like that.”

“It’s not? I could’ve sworn I saw you sighing when Queen Bee swooped in and saved the reporter earlier.” Trixx replied, in that matter-of-fact tone. “Come _on,_ pup, you like her.”

“I don’t.”

A lie, an easy lie. This would come back to bite Alya later, but she was getting better and better at lying. The girl settled on a cool-blue blouse, checked her make-up in the mirror, and sat at her desk, waiting for her interviewee to show up.

She heard a soft knocking on her window, and spun around to see Queen Bee on the fire escape. She stood, hoped Trixx wasn’t in plain sight, and crossed over. After opening the window, she offered the striped-heroine a hand, helping her inside.

“It’s nice to see you again, Queen Bee.” Alya remarked, “Sorry, Volpina didn’t give me much time to prepare for this. I wish the location was better.”

The blonde shook her head, “It’s perfectly fine. Besides, I prefer a more intimate approach to these sort of things, don’t you?”

Alya’s smile twitched. “Yeah, of course! I—um, have the tripod set up to do the live feed, and at the bottom of the screen it’ll have your twitter linked. Are you ready?”

“Yes, of course.” The blonde sat on the corner of the bed, her face framed by Marvel and DC posters, with the occasional Ladybug or Chat Noir print. She glanced around as the stream went live. “No Sailor Moon? I’m disappointed.”

Her laughter sparkled as she glanced over her monitor, checking to make sure the moderators were present to filter live-reaction tweets and comments. “I kind of want to start watching it, actually. Female superheroines are…kind of my specialty.”

Queen Bee hummed, “I can see that. Your favorite?”

Alya winced, and sat at her swivel chair, “I like what DC is doing, though I grew up on Marvel, for the most part.” She glanced down at her notepad, “So, Queen Bee, how are you, how’s being a superhero?”

“Oh, it’s amazing, of course, _I’m_ amazing, but it’s a lot of fun.” She replied, “I always wanted to be a princess and superhero, and now I’m both.”

“You’re a princess?” The girl smirked, “I could’ve sworn you were a queen.”

“I am, I am.” The heroine waved off, her locks of blonde her bouncing as she tilted her head. “It’s just a dream come true, really.”

Alya pretended to glance down at the notes on her phone, the questions pouring in on her feed, and glanced back up. Swallowing, she dared, “And you have a partner? Do you like working on a team or are you more of a lone wolf?”

The caused the blond to freeze slightly. She crossed her legs, elegant lithe things that seemed to go on for ages, in Alya’s mind. “Volpina and I are an excellent team. I admit, working with her is simply the best.” Her voice was slow, “I couldn’t ask for a better partner.”

Her heart felt like it had sped up, and Alya fought the urge to press her lips together and cry. Queen Bee was not the kindest, so praise did not travel very far. “I see.”

“She really is something special,” The blonde went on, “Sharp as a tack, though dull on certain subjects.”

“Such as?”

“She has tunnel vision. Her focus can sometimes be…off-base, but otherwise, I truly admire her.” Her voice turned cryptic, “I wish she saw what was right in front of her, if that make sense.”

 

XXX

 

Marinette and Plagg collectively groaned. Then, Adrien watched her pace in front of the couch, listening occasionally as the interview went on.

“God, I love Alya, but she’s so _dumb._ ” She exclaimed, “She wasn’t this dense with Nino!”

“Didn’t she figure out she was a lesbian while she was with him?” The cat replied, flying in front of the girl, causing her to stumble back. The kwami adored joking about Mari’s clumsiness. “Come on, Ladybug, you have to be more careful, really.”

The girl glared at the black cat.

Tikki flew between them, trying to placate the delicate situation, “Everything’s going to be fine. They’ll figure themselves out _eventually._ ”

“Eventually can’t come soon enough!” Marinette exclaimed, “I’ve had it up to here” -she stood on her tiptoes and raised her hand as high as it would go- “with these pre-reveal shenanigans. They’re one-sided interactions, they’re awkward glances and flirtations. WHEN WILL MY SUFFERING END?”

Adrien rolled his eyes, “You wouldn’t let us reveal our identities to eachother for _three years,_ bugaboo. My sympathy for you has outlived it’s maximum nine lives.”

She tossed a pillow at him, and he ignored her glare with a teasing smile. “It will happen. Chloe is pushing her luck, and Alya isn’t the best at keeping secrets.”

 

XXX

 

When the interview was wrapping up, and Alya cut off the live feed, she turned to Queen Bee. “Ah, is it all right if I ask you a question, off the record?”

Her eyebrows arched upwards under the yellow mask. Bee, who was already standing, placed a hand on Alya’s shoulder. “Any kind of attention is good attention, what is it?”

“I…I kind of have this friend, and um, she has a crush on Volpina.” Alya’s nails dug into her palm, “She’s gay and its kind of the first time she’s had a crush on another girl, and I hate outing her but she’s…”

Her voice trailed off into a whisper, her confidence zapped.

“Alya?”

Snapping back up, she looked at Queen Bee, her face painted with concern. “Could Volpina just…could you let her know that Chloe Bourgeois could use a hero like her?” Her hand ran through her hair, “I think it’s a big deal to my friend, that Volpina is an out lesbian, because she’s in the closet, b-but it’d mean a lot to her and—”

“I understand completely.” Her voice was so small, in that moment. Alya could only wonder what it had meant. “I’ll let my partner know.”

She let out a nervous laugh, “You sure? If you’re uncomfortable, it’s chill.”

“It’s fine.”

 

XXX

 

Later that night, Volpina had to maintain her cool, meeting her partner along the river. She was only waiting a few minutes when she received a call on the communicator from her phone.

“Hey,” Queen Bee’s voice came in crisply, “Listen, I transformed in the bathroom at Starbucks. It’s been a really wild night. What do you want? I have a gift card.”

“…venti iced butterscotch latte, double shot.”

“Gross, okay, be there soon.”

Queen Bee landed next to her shortly, thrust a warm coffee into the girl’s hands. “Did you catch my interview?”

Volpina nodded, and took a sip, “You were great, Bee. And your twitter account tripled in followers.”

The girl let out a content sigh, “Yep. Though, the interview wasn’t just for that.” The girl took a sip of her drink, and scrunched her nose at the heat. “Alya Cesaire knows this girl who could use your help, actually.”

“Oh?” She tilted her head to the side, “Well, I am a hero, what can I do?”

“It’s Chloe Bourgeois.” Queen Bee’s eyes bore into Alya’s and she realized her partner was waiting for some sort of negative response. After all, it was no secret that Ladybug, the team leader, disliked Chloe.

The fox only nodded, “Sure, what’s up with her?”

 

XXX

 

Volpina landed on Chloe’s rooftop several days later, and knocked on the glass doors, and waved at the blonde who appeared outside her bathroom.

She opened the door and groaned, “I was drying my hair.”

“I could always come back.” The fox offered, though it was no use. Chloe had ushered the girl in. Alya had been inside the suite before, for group projects. Still, the room looked re-designed in some areas. “Queen Bee told me you needed a hero?”

Chloe snorted, “A hero? No, I need help with this advanced statistics homework.”

The fox chuckled, her voice soft. “I can’t help you there, girl.”

“I’m kidding.” Her breathy voice was akin to silk. “I just wanted to say, that you’re really inspiring, and you being out is really cool, and I wish I could do what you did.”

The redhead raised her eyebrows, “You could come out, Chloe.”

The blonde shrugged, “My father has made it very clear that I would ruin his campaign. I think he wants to make a run for prime minister.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Chloe answered, “It’s not the easiest thing to do, but talking about it helps.”

“I find that bravery has a time and place.” She replied, “It’s valid and okay to be who you are, Chloe.”

Soon, they found themselves talking until the sunrise about anything and everything. Surprised by the ease at which they spoke, Alya kissed the girl on her forehead, asked her to be more honest with herself, and left.

Before she left, Chloe asked the heroine to pose for a picture. She stood, silhouetted against the ornate railing of hotel, the city and the sunrise to her back. The fox knew that the camera wouldn’t catch her smile, but she knew the photographer wouldn’t forget it.

To say that Alya’s love for her was infinite would be an understatement. In that moment, there was such a completeness, such a peak of feeling, that she had a hard time leaving the girl behind. Still, she had to. Chloe had no business dating a high-profile supehero, and Alya had no business lying to her about it.

 

XXX

 

Alya couldn’t believe her eyes, as she scrolled through The Buginette feed on twitter. There it was, clear evidence. The picture of Volpina, against the balcony smiling, the quote, the everything. Suddenly, the account looked so ‘Chloe’ that it was overpowering.

It made sense, the two biggest superhero fanatics in the city, working together to take down a supervillain.

_Stripes and blondes, Alya Cesaire._

So, now, she landed next to Ladybug, who seemed startled to see the girl. They had not crossed paths in several weeks (they were both so busy, after all). The spotted hero grinned. “Hey, Volpina, how are you?”

“I’m great.” A beat. “On the off-chance that I wasn’t, in a completely hypothetical situation, could I talk to you about it?”

The bug beamed, “Of course! We’re friends, and being a superhero doesn’t come with a how-to manual.”

Alya took in a breath, and Ladybug was suddenly scratching behind her fox ears. She exhaled. The woman had seen her do it to Chat a thousand times, and it was quite relaxing.

“What do you…how did you and Chat handle the reveal?” She stated.

Her hand froze. “What? Why? What happened?”

“Nothing happened.”

“ _Nothing happened_.”

“Yes.”

Ladybug took in a breath, “I see.”

Volpina rolled her eyes, “In a hypothetical situation where I know Queen Bee’s identity and she doesn’t know mine, what would I do?”

The girl’s eyes widened, and she frowned, “And in this hypothetical situation, could Volpina accept that I know _both_ of your identities, and ask how you’re taking that?”

“It’s _fine._ ”

“Is it?” Ladybug teased the girl, “You seem to fight with her often.”

“I’m about to fight _you_ if you don’t give me real advice.” The girl hissed.

“Don’t waste time not being honest.” Ladybug suggested, her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Communication is all you have between your friends, right?”

“Right.”

“And between people that you want to be more-than-friends with.”

Alya paused, clicked her tongue, and nodded.

 

XXX

 

This was it.

“Bee.” Volpina swallowed her breath and fear in one pass, and blurted, “I figured out your secret identity.”

Queen Bee looked at her, and gave the girl a crooked smile, “Did you?”

“I did.” She let herself beam. After all, she was a reporter. They stood together, on top of a tall building, overlooking the city. The setting was right, everything was going to be fine.

“I see.” The girl glanced down at her nails, realized they were covered in spandex-material, and rolled her eyes, “It took you long enough, Cesaire.”

Shattering into approximately six-thousand, three-hundred and twenty-two pieces, Alya blinked, and bit her lip. The girl turned to her partner, batting her stupid, stupid eyelashes, her stupid, stupid pouted lips. It was not that she wanted to _murder_ Chloe Bourgeois, it’s that she wanted to rip her head off with her bare hands.

“Is there something the matter, Alya?”

Well, that turn of phrase was the icing on the cake.

Alya raked her hand through her scalp, “How _long_ did you know?”

Chloe laughed, the sparkly laughter, the one that rejuvenated her partner. “Oh, you thought you could smirk like _that_ both times I met you? You must work on first impressions, you’re quite bad at them.”

“I—”

“On top of that, I thought I gave you plenty of hints, Ms. Ladyblog.” She cut the girl off, “I mean, truly, I thought I was being fair to you. I was giving you every chance to figure me out, and you didn’t? Do you know how much that hurt? I thought it was your job to root out superhero’s identities. You went so hard to find out Ladybug, I thought you’d do the same for me. I was so offended, Alya—”

The redhead had had enough, and cut off the heiress before she could continue, “Chloe, if you don’t stop talking, I will _personally_ push you off this building, you hear me?”

Breathing in slightly, she smiled at Alya. “Make me.”

Alya knew the smile (it was her own), Alya knew what it meant, and there was nothing left to do. She crossed the distance between herself and her partner. It was obvious, that Chloe was trying to disguise the anticipation in her stiff shoulders, but it was no use.

Chloe knew that Alya had seen right through her from day one. Still, there were mysteries. Alya was close enough to touch her when she realized how little she knew.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you knew?” She asked, “You could’ve saved us all this trouble.”

“It wasn’t an issue with me.” She answered, “You liked Queen Bee and her alter-ego, so who was I to compromise the two? I’m sorry, though, if you had some crisis over it.”

“I didn’t.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

And then, Alya stopped waiting.


End file.
